U.S. government worker charged with leaking classified documents on Israel’s plans to strike Iran
WASHINGTON — A man who worked for the U.S. government has been charged with leaking classified information assessing Israel’s earlier plans to attack Iran, according to court papers filed Wednesday.
The man, identified as Asif William Rahman, was arrested by the FBI this week in Cambodia and was due to make his first court appearance in Guam.
He was indicted last week in U.S. court in Virginia on two counts of willful transmission of national defense information — felony charges that an carry significant prison sentences.
It was not immediately clear whether Rahman had a lawyer or which federal agency employed him, but officials say he had top secret security clearance.
The charges stem from the documents, attributed to the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and National Security Agency, appearing last month on a channel of the Telegram messaging app. The documents noted that Israel was still moving military assets in place to conduct a military strike in response to Iran’s ballistic missile attack on Oct. 1.
Israel carried out a retaliatory attack on multiple sites in Iran in late October.
The documents were sharable within the “Five Eyes,” which are the United States, Britain, Canada, New Zealand and Australia.
Meanwhile, Secretary of State Antony Blinken is urging Israel to allow displaced Palestinians and aid back into Gaza and says it should end the war against Hamas.
He said Israel has accomplished its goals of dismantling the military wing of Hamas and ensuring that an attack like the one the terrorist group launched last year cannot happen again.
Blinken called for “real and extended pauses” in the fighting in much of Gaza “so that the assistance can effectively get to people who need it.”